GODJ KEEPS COSTLY FORCE ON BORDER WITH ERITREA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 001000

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018
TAGS: DJ ER MOPS PBTS PREL
SUBJECT: GODJ KEEPS COSTLY FORCE ON BORDER WITH ERITREA

REF: DJIBOUTI 482

Classified By: Amb. J. Swan for reasons 1.4 (b)(d).


1. (C) Summary: The Djiboutian Government maintains some
2,000 troops -- 40 percent of the country's total military
assets -- on its desolate northern border with Eritrea.
Since May, the GODJ has built protective berms, a new
logistics base, a new communications tower, and an upgraded
observation post at its main operations center in Moulhoule.
GODJ military report that the Eritreans have three battalions
of troops arrayed along the border, with additional backup
farther inland, and still occupy fortifications on the
southern slope of Ras Doumeira. GODJ forces continue to
receive a steady trickle of Eritrean deserters. There have
been no incidents of cross-border exchange of fire since
June. Keeping a large force (by Djibouti standards) in the
remote north is a heavy burden, but the recent improvements
to the Moulhoule base suggest the GODJ intends to maintain
this presence indefinitely. End summary.


2. (C) Ambassador, USLO Security Assistance Officer, ORA
Chief, and CJTF-HOA Country Coordination Element for Djibouti
traveled Dec. 10 to Moulhoule, the base of operations for
Djiboutian forces positioned along the border with Eritrea.
The visit was conducted at the invitation of Colonel
Abdurahman Cher, the head of Djibouti's naval forces, who was
on a three-week rotation as senior commander in the zone.
Five Djiboutian colonels take turns performing this function.


3. (C) Moulhoule is a remote and isolated location, reached
in about two hours over dirt track (no road) from the small
provincial capital Obock. Although located on the
southwestern shore of the Red Sea, there is no port facility
at Moulhoule; some resupply is possible by lighter. There is
a small dirt landing strip capable of receiving Transaal
aircraft, as well as a helicopter landing pad. On the route
to Moulhoule from Obock we encountered lightly-manned but
attentive checkpoints at the outskirts of Obock and on
arrival and departure from Khor Angar.

DISPOSITION OF FORCES


4. (C) Our host, Colonel Cher, said Djibouti has assigned
some 2,000 troops to the border with Eritrea. Each week, 200
are sent for R&R, leaving 1,800 on the ground. Most are
forward-deployed north of Moulhoule, roughly on a line
between Lisidiro and Dayli Haral and the border. The forces
are drawn from units normally assigned elsewhere in Djibouti,
including the Arta Rapid Reaction Brigade, units from Dikhil
and Ali Sabieh, armored units, gendarmes, and national
police. The units maintain a forward presence and patrol the
border area as far west as Sidiha Menguela, but are mostly
concentrated in the east, near Ras Doumeira. Some have
armored vehicles of French, South African, or Russian
manufacture. The Djiboutians keep their distance from
Eritrean forces in an effort to avoid any renewal of
hostilities. Djiboutian forces have had no presence on
Doumeira Island since the June fighting, Cher said.


5. (C) On the Eritrean side, Cher estimated there were
1,600 troops along the border -- three battalions including
two infantry and one tank battalion with T-55s. He said the
Eritreans continue to occupy fortifications on the southern
slope of Ras Doumeira. Cher personally has traveled to
within one kilometer of these trenches to observe the
Eritrean positions.

MOULHOULE UPGRADES


6. (C) Since USLO SAO's visit in May (reftel),the GODJ has
made significant upgrades to its presence in Moulhoule, and
we observed earthmoving and other heavy equipment operating
during our visit. Berms have been built both for defensive
purposes and to protect troops from the constant dusty winds.
There is a new logistics base with warehouse facilities and
a helicopter landing pad. A new communications tower will
provide improved cell-phone connectivity. With French
support, the Djiboutians have also built a new glass-enclosed
observation post. After the fighting in June, the French
maintained a small presence in Moulhoule until September
2008, when they withdrew all forces back to Djibouti City.
The French still have a small radar installation in
Moulhoule, and the base is also planned as a site for the
U.S. Maritime Domain Awareness program in mid-2009.


7. (C) Nonetheless, the Moulhoule base remains spartan,
with logistics a major challenge. Resupply is by
twice-weekly Transaal flights and by boat from Djibouti City

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to Obock and then overland by convoy. In a brief visit to
the "hospital" it appeared stocked to provide only minimal
first aid. Cher said any serious illnesses or injuries would
require evacuation by helicopter. While Cher assured us that
most forces and equipment were forward-deployed, we saw only
one fuel tanker and one water tanker, a single ambulance, and
a small number of four-wheel-drive vehicles at the base.
Distractions for the troops were limited to a mosque in a
small tent, a television, and periodic shipments of the mild
narcotic qat received from Yemen.

ERITREAN DESERTERS; DJIBOUTIAN MIA


8. (C) Cher said Eritrean deserters continue to come across
the border into Djibouti. Just in the two weeks he had been
in Moulhoule, he had received seven. The deserters are sent
to Djibouti city for processing as appropriate by ICRC and
UNHCR. Cher recalled that 19 Djiboutians, including Colonel
Aden Ali Ahmed, have been MIA since the June fighting.

COMMENT


9. (C) Moulhoule and the northern border area are remote,
desolate, and inhospitable. Keeping an effective fighting
force of 2000 troops in this zone would be difficult for even
a well-funded and well-equipped Western military. The
Djiboutian deployment is clearly a burden, and helps explain
the GODJ's eagerness to resolve the dispute with Eritrea
quickly and peacefully. Nonetheless, the upgrades to the
Moulhoule base suggest that the GODJ intends to maintain this
force indefinitely along the border.
SWAN